# Messages taking up storage on iPhone? How to reduce it

**Short answer:** Messages stores every photo, video and voice note anyone has sent you, so it can grow to tens of gigabytes. Open **Settings › General › iPhone Storage › Messages** and use **Review Large Attachments** to delete the biggest files without deleting the conversations. Then set **Settings › Apps › Messages › Keep Messages** to **1 Year** so old threads clear themselves.

## Steps
1. Open **Settings › General › iPhone Storage** and tap **Messages**. The screen shows how much space photos, videos, GIFs and other attachments take.
2. Tap **Review Large Attachments**. Swipe left on an item to delete it, or tap **Edit**, select several and tap the trash icon.
3. Check **Top Conversations** on the same screen to find the threads that take the most space, and clean those up in the Messages app.
4. In a conversation, tap the contact's name at the top and scroll to **Photos** and **Documents**. Touch and hold an item to delete it, or tap **See All** to select several.
5. Set **Settings › Apps › Messages › Keep Messages** to **30 Days** or **1 Year** (on iOS 17 and earlier, **Settings › Messages**). Older messages and their attachments are deleted.
6. Under **Settings › Apps › Messages › Audio Messages**, set **Expire** to **After 2 Minutes** if you don't need to keep voice notes.
7. Turn on **Low Quality Image Mode** in the same settings if you're often on a limited data plan.

## What takes the space in Messages
| Item | Typical size | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Videos | 10–300 MB each | Review Large Attachments |
| Photos | 1–5 MB each | Delete from the conversation's Photos section |
| Voice notes | under 1 MB a minute | Expire after 2 minutes |
| GIFs and stickers | small, but thousands add up | Delete per conversation |
| Text only | tiny | Not worth cleaning |

## Messages in iCloud
With **Settings › [your name] › iCloud › Messages in iCloud** on, your messages and attachments are stored in iCloud and synced across your devices. That uses iCloud storage, and deleting a message or conversation deletes it on every device. It's convenient, but it doesn't make Messages small on the iPhone by itself; cleaning attachments is still the way to free space.

## Photos you saved from Messages
Photos and videos you saved from a conversation are separate copies in your Photos library. Deleting the conversation doesn't remove them, and deleting them from Photos doesn't shrink Messages.

## Where Spaceclear fits
iOS doesn't let any app read your messages, so [Spaceclear](/) can't clean Messages; use the steps above. Spaceclear cleans the Photos library, including the copies you saved from chats: exact duplicates, similar images (best kept), screenshots and big videos. See [find the biggest videos](/guides/sort-videos-by-size-iphone), and for chat apps, [WhatsApp storage](/guides/clear-whatsapp-storage-iphone).

## FAQ
### Do text messages take up storage on iPhone?
Text itself is tiny: even years of texts are usually under 1 GB. The space is taken by the photos, videos and voice notes inside conversations, which is why Review Large Attachments frees so much.

### Will deleting attachments delete my messages?
No. Deleting an attachment removes only that photo, video or file; the text of the conversation stays. Deleting a whole conversation removes everything in it.

### Why is Messages still big after deleting conversations?
iPhone Storage can take a while to recalculate, and recently deleted messages may be kept for up to 30 days in **Messages › Edit › Show Recently Deleted** (or **Filters › Recently Deleted**). Delete them there, restart and check again.